I've just found the same problem as this with a 2.2E Wii I bought at auction. Homebrew does not install and autoupdating to now 3.4E is obviosuly now not the best thing to do. But, I've found a workaround which is very simple.

Go to your local video store and hire, or borrow from a mate, a copy of a newish game (Mario Cart is good). This will force an update first, to 3.1E which you can then install Homebrew and Wiigator onto.

simple and cheap!

Who needs Big Brain Academy, working out how to get round Nintendo's tricks is much more fun.